Upon healing a paralytic man by the pool of Bethesda on Sabbath, Jesus became known as a blasphemous man for justifying his violation of the Sabbath commandment as a work of God and regarding himself as the Son of God (John 5:1-47). This was when the public accusation of Jesus for his way of speaking about his unique relationship with the Father began to become evident and started growing to arrest and put him to death. This progression is what we pay attention in the Gospel Readings from John into the Holy Week. We read a narrative from John’s description of the Last Supper on Holy Tuesday (John 13:21-33,36-38) and the latter part of Johannine passion narrative, reflecting Tenebrae service, (John 18:1-19:42) on Good Friday.
On Cycle B, in the fourth, the fifth, and the sixth
weeks of Lenten season, we read John’s Gospel progressively from 3:14-21 on the
Fourth Sunday of Lent to18:1-19:42, except for feasts days, such as the feast
of Annunciation (March 25), and Spy Wednesday and Mundy Thursday. This is to
see how the public perception of Jesus changed from an object of salvific hope
to an object of hatred and anger – how the persecution against Jesus emerged
and grow to put him to death. Through
our daily Lenten Gospel Readings for the last three weeks of Lent, this is what
we need to pay attention to. And, see how the signs that Jesus performed, from
the Second Sign (John 4:46-54) (Monday of the Fourth Week of Lent ) to the
seventh sign (John 11:1-44)(its immediate sequence narrative vv.45-56, Friday
of the Fifth Week of Lent) , have impacted the way Jesus was seen and reflect
why so.
Now, on this last day of the Fourth Week of Lent, we
continue to see how the public in Jerusalem regard Jesus ever since performing
his second sign, making the paralytic man well by the pool of Bethesda on
Sabbath.
Knowing that healing the paralytic man last time he
was in Jerusalem resulted in the accusation against him for blasphemy, Jesus
was at first not in mood to return to Jerusalem for the feast of Tabernacle,
Sukkot. Nevertheless, as it is one of the three required feasts in the Torah to
celebrate in the Temple, Jesus actually returned to Jerusalem rather invisible
to the public. However, his presence was caught by some residents of Jerusalem,
and this public encounter resulted in their attempt to arrest him, upon some
arguments about his Messianic identity and self-identification with the Father
(John 7:1a, 10, 25-30), as in the Gospel Reading for yesterday (Friday of the
Fourth Week of Lent).
Yes, those who did not believe in Jesus tried to
arrest him but nobody even laid a hand on him, as his hour had not yet come
(John 7:30). And the hour for Jesus’ arrest was later after his prayer in
agony, amidst the tenebrae, (John 18:1-14).
Though it was obvious that he will be arrested
sooner or later, there were quite may residents of Jerusalem began to believe
that Jesus is the Messiah, and said, “When
the Messiah comes, will he perform more signs than this man has done?”
(John 7:31) They may have begun to believe. But, their belief was still too
naïve, because the Messiah already came to them, debating with them. And, he
performed two more signs thereupon, according to John’s Gospel. He made two sings between his third sign by
healing the paralytic man and his return to Jerusalem for the feast of Sukkot –
feeding the great crowd by multiplying loves and fish (John 6:1-14) and walking
on the water (John 6:16-21).
To firmly believe, more signs were needed? Even
those we began to believe in Jerusalem were just like Thomas (John 20:24-31).
Then, the Pharisee and the chief priests sent guard
to arrest him in recognize this public debate (John 7:32).
In response to this, Jesus implicated that they
would futilely look for me because his public presence would soon end as he
would return to the Father in heaven, who sent me (John 7:33-34). So, they
began debating amongst themselves as to what Jesus meant by, “You will look for me and not find , and
where I am you cannot come” (John 7:36).
Then, Jesus referred to his Messianic position at
the end of time rather in the Trinitarian context, bringing the Holy Spirit in
juxtaposition to the river of living water form him (John 7:37-39), evoking the
memory of Eden (Genesis 2:10) and the post-exilic vision in Ezekiel 47:1-12,
with the eschatological vision in Revelation 22:1-3.
Jesus’ reference of his Messianic origin in the Father (John 7:33-36) is later implicated at the beginning of Jesus’ Last Supper discourse to his disciples (John 14:1-11), reminding us how difficult it was even for the disciples to come to grip of Jesus’ Christological, Messianic background with the Father. And, this sure made residents of Jerusalem confused about who Jesus was – whether a man of blasphemy from Galilee or a some kind of Messiah or prophet of God. And, his eschatological Messianic reference to the Holy Spirit through the metaphor of water of life (John 7:37-3) prompted some in the crowd to think of Jesus as the prophet of God (John 7:40), while others in the crowd began to proclaim Jesus as the Messiah (John 7:41).
To such positive and affirmative reception of Jesus
as the Messiah and the Prophet (John 7:40-41), there emerged a counteraction
challenge, arguing, “The Messiah will not
come from Galilee, will he? Does not scripture say that the Messiah will be of
David’s family and come from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?
(John 7:42), referring to 2 Samuel 7:12-14 and Micah 5:1. Obviously, those who
do not believe assumes that the Messiah had nothing to do with Galilee,
Nazareth, where Jesus grew up. But, what they remained ignorant was the fact
that Jesus was born in Bethlehem (Luke 2:1-7) to fulfill Micah 5:1, as the
consultants to Herod the Great also implicated (Matthew 2:5-6).
So, what came about was a division between those who
began to believe, even though they did not know Jesus was actually born in
Bethlehem in Judea, not Nazareth in Galilee, to fulfill Micah 5:1, and those
who do not believe because it makes no sense, according to the scripture, to
have the Messiah from Galilee (John 7:43), and again, some wanted to arrest
Jesus. But the guards sent by the Pharisee and the chief priests to arrest Jesus
did not lay their hands on him, and they explained why they did not arrest him,
“Never before has anyone spoken like this
one”(John 7:46).
But, the Pharisees treated the guards and those who
began to believe in Jesus as the docile due to
ignorance of the scriptures, especially the Torah (John 7:47-49).
Then, Nichodemus, who secretly met with Jesus and
learned from him (John 3:1-21), also a Pharisee member of the ruling council
(John 3:1), spoke up, saying:
Does
our law condemn a person before it first hears him and finds out what he is
doing? (John 7:51)
The rest of the Pharisee must have annoyed by this
statement of their colleague, Nichodemus, as he was asking those who were
ignorant of the scripture, especially the Law, are they themselves, for judging
Jesus without thoroughly listening to him but simply judging him by their
superficial observation of his behavior. So, they even cast their doubt on
Nichodemus if he was also from Galilee, just like Jesus (John 7:52).
What is behind the argument against Jesus is another
aspect of the Pharisees’ own ignorance of the scriptures for assuming that no
prophet whatsoever from Galilee. As a matter of fact, there are some:
Jonah and Elijah, in addition to Nahum and Hosea.
Their ignorance was bad enough to make them ignorant
of their own ignorance. And it is a shame that their gross ignorance is a
factor behind proceeding to further persecute and drive Jesus to death.
The Gospel Readings for far have made it clear that the
persecution against Jesus is not only evident but is to increase, as those who
accuse him are determined to arrest and condemn him. In such a situation, how
did Jesus feel – how could he have felt in recognizing the increasing attacks
on him on the way further – though he knew of his death was drawing nearer?
Could it be like how Jeremiah, a persecuted prophet, felt, as reflected in the in
the First Reading (Jeremiah 11:18-20), a part of Jeremiah’s first confession
(11:18-23) ?
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